Dog-friendly Horton in Ribblesdale

Walkers' pub at the foot of Pen-y-ghent and a traditional start and finish for the Three Peaks Challenge. Dogs are welcome in the bar areas and the outdoor seating by the Ribble, and well-behaved dogs can stay in the downstairs double bedroom. Expect muddy boots, big breakfasts and fell talk.

Three and a half miles there and back in under two hours, up the walled green lane of Horton Scar Lane on the Pennine Way to Hull Pot, the largest natural hole in England at 300 feet long and 60 feet deep. The track is stony but broad and gently graded, and it stays walkable when Pen-y-ghent is in cloud; start from the National Park pay-and-display car park in Horton, with Horton station on the Settle-Carlisle line two minutes away. The walled lane means a dog can be off the lead for the climb with no stiles at all, which is rare in this country, but Hull Pot itself is a sheer unfenced rock chasm you must lead your dog past, and the open moor beyond carries sheep and requires leads from 1 March to 31 July.

The most dog-manageable of the Three Peaks: a six-mile circuit from Horton up the crouching-lion profile of Pen-y-ghent (694m), returning past the gaping chasm of Hull Pot. This is working sheep country from start to summit, so keep dogs on a lead around livestock and during the March-to-July ground-nesting season; expect stiles, a short rocky scramble near the top and serious weather potential. Park at the village pay and display.